Senate committee takes less than two minutes to approve Liberal cybersecurity bill

The Liberal government’s cybersecurity bill has taken another step toward receiving royal assent after the Senate’s national security committee needed only 90 seconds to pass the proposed legislation. On Monday evening, senators met to wrap the committee’s study of Bill C-8, which would give Ottawa new authorities over the country’s telecommunications systems. In recent weeks, the committee held two meetings to hear from Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree (Scarborough—Guildwood—Rouge Park, Ont.), expert witnesses, and government officials, before moving ahead with clause-by-clause consideration. Customarily, clause-by-clause sessions can last for multiple hours, as parliamentarians scrutinize every individual line item in a particular bill. However, the Senate committee dispatched the 30,000-word bill in less than two minutes, after the committee agreed to categorize the legislation into only three votes, all of which promptly passed. No senator proposed any amendments to the legislation, and the committee also decided against including observations when sending C-8 back to the Senate. Sen. Marty Deacon, the committee’s chair, reported the bill back to the Upper Chamber on Tuesday, though it still must pass third reading before becoming law. Various officials from Public Safety Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada attended Monday’s meeting, though senators did not ask any questions. “Given the thorough job you did last time, I guess the committee will allow you to leave early,” said Sen. Hussan Yussuff. Bill C-8 is a near identical version of Bill C-26, the cybersecurity bill introduced by Justin Trudeau’s government in 2022. After passing through both chambers of Parliament, the bill died on the Order Paper before becoming law when Trudeau prorogued Parliament in January 2025. Under the bill, the federal government has promised to ban Huawei and ZTE from Canada’s 5G networks, due to potential cyberthreats. Prior to the meeting, the committee received a letter from Anandasangaree in which he expressed a desire that the bill “move quickly towards Royal Assent… to protect the critical infrastructure Canadians and Canadian businesses rely on daily.” “It is our sincere hope that Senators can see the careful consideration with which this critical piece of legislation was designed,” the minister wrote. “I look forward to the Committee’s report and to the continued collaboration of members in advancing this important file.” In the Senate, the bill is being sponsored by New Brunswick Sen. John McNair. “It’s important to acknowledge the important work that was done on this bill,” added Yussuff. “The bill will finally be passed this time before we have to go into another election or prorogate again.” Deacon also acknowledged various iterations of C-8 have been “making motion for a while,” suggesting it’s significant that senators made it through clause-by-clause. It is not clear whether C-8 will receive royal assent before Parliament breaks for the summer later this month. dlegree@thewirereport.ca

Senate committee takes less than two minutes to approve Liberal cybersecurity bill

Regulatory |
By Davis Legree
|June 2, 2026

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Senate committee takes less than two minutes to approve Liberal cybersecurity bill

Regulatory | By Davis Legree |June 2, 2026

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By Davis Legree
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